Freesat questions plz help

[wykewatson 10]

can anyone explain what free sat is?

 

i found one for sale at argos for £50, i have a sat dish that has ran sky since 97 but came off it last year. is there any one who knows what channels you get? is it the same channels as skysat (free basic sky channels)

 

we do no recieve freeview or digital in our area at the moment, the tv we have has built in freeview so i know we dont recieve that.

[Ivor&Mel 10]

I have Freesat via a Sky dish and a Humax box. Freesat is nothing to do with Sky, though. Basically, what I get is around 100 Freesat channels, plus a set of other Free-to-air channels (just under 400).

 

I was advised that any Sky dish that was no more than a couple of years old should be OK with a Freesat box. You might be pushing it to get it to work with a '97 dish, though...

[sufc_tom 10]

Can someone explain this freesat malark to me and advise if it is worth it or not to implement?

[Ivor&Mel 10]

It's a bit like the satellite equivalent of Freeview, but with lots of extra channels and some missing channels (like Five, Dave), and it includes two HD channels (BBC HD and Luxe.tv HD), plus ITV HD (the occasional program), and with more expected in the next 6-12 months. You can still access the Freeview channels through your aerial, of course.

 

I wanted to have HD for the Olympics and that was my main reason for buying. But it also has ALL the regional BBC and ITV programmes, and I can now watch Look Leeds instead of Look Humberside/Lincs! (our aerial has to be tuned in to the Belmont transmitter).

 

The cost is typically around £150 for the box, and £80 more if you need to have a dish installed.

[alchresearch 215]

But it also has ALL the regional BBC and ITV programmes, and I can now watch Look Leeds instead of Look Humberside/Lincs! (our aerial has to be tuned in to the Belmont transmitter).

 

To be fair, Sky can do that. I go to channel 976 for BBC1 Yorkshire to watch Look North instead of North West Tonight.

 

To the OP: If you already have a small black Sky dish like this:

 

http://www.pvrwire.com/media/2006/04/self_install.jpg

 

(ie not a round one) you can pick up a cheap second hand sky box for around a tenner. You may need a viewing card (if your box doesn't have one you can get one from Sky), and with that you'll get most of Freeview (although not Dave, Virgin1 or HD channels).

[kenthack 10]

as long as your dish is a digital dish youll be able to use it with freesat

(even some of the old round dishes had universal lnbs which would work with digital satellite)

[Ivor&Mel 10]

I'm not sure why I was advised that it's best to have a dish that is no more than 2 years old... If an old dish worked with Sky, then it must be aligned correctly for Freesat? What could cause an issue? I've had a look on AVForums, and people there are reporting no problems with dishes 10 years old or more - just connect up the Freesat box and it all kicks into life effortlessly.

[kenthack 10]

the old round dishes where set to another satellite both astra but 1s at 19° and the other is at 28° cant remember which way round

if you have a sky digital dish that is alligned to pick up sky then it will work with freesat

if you have an old round dish then it may still be able to be used but would need realigning but youd be better off having a new dish installed than do that

[Ivor&Mel 10]

I seem to think that my Freesat is picking up off 28, if that helps!

[kenthack 10]

yep its 28

just rescanned the 1 connected to my comp to see any new free channels

cant find any new channels yet so i dont think this box can pick up the freesat channels only the free sky channels and some foreign ones

 

looks like im going to have to get a freesat box:)